It began as a one-man quest. A way of calling out to a growing community across the UK to 'share their shed'.

Now, 12 years after the launch of readersheds.co.uk and eight years after the inaugural Shed of the Year competition, the televised final of the hit three-part series is just one day away.

Tomorrow sees the final episode of Amazing Spaces: Shed of the Year, a competition set up by Welshman Andrew Wilcox from Upper Church Village.

The 42-year-old web developer is better known in the shed community as Uncle Wilco, the Head Sheddie of a niche group of Sheddies who upload pictures of their sometimes weird and often wonderful outbuildings to his readersheds website.

Watch: Behind the scenes of Shed of the Year

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The transition from an online competition to a television show has been a slow, but steady one.

It all started in 2001 when Andrew was looking around for a new shed for his own garden.

“Growing up in the Valleys, I spent time with my late grandfather Glynn Wilcox on his allotment in Blaen Clydach.

“He used to get me to help him potting up courgettes and the like in his small, handmade shed on the reclaimed slag heap.

“I thought there would be a website with pictures of cool sheds but and there wasn’t, so I just thought I’d set one up," says Andrew.

That website was readersheds.co.uk, a place dedicated to 'sharing your shed'.

Although the initial take up was slow, the site grew from strength to strength when his fellow ‘sheddies’ sent in pictures by the bucketload of their builds.

He launched the first Shed of the Year contest six years later, with property expert Sarah Beeny on-board as the first celebrity judge.

Over the past few years Andrew's Shed of the Year competition was picked up by both the local and national press who loved the wacky idea and the slightly eccentric people behind it.

Then this year it was picked up by a TV production company and Channel 4 who decided to broadcast it over three weeks to a public that has so far lapped up the fun and quirky contest.

Viewing figures have been impressive with the first episode reaching a peak of 2.5m and the second having the highest rating of the day on Channel 4.

It is a far cry from the early days of one man, one computer and an off-beat idea. But what affect has the TV exposure had on the competition and the man behind it?

"It's been a bit stressful," Andrew admits. "It's something that I've worked on for the past eight years and it's normally all over by now. We just used to have a Shed Week but this has been going on for a lot longer.

"It's been a great experience, though."

Andrew said he was taken aback by the success of the show so far.

"I am definitely surprised at how successful it's been on the TV because normally it's just an online competition and now it's getting millions of viewers. As long as people are enjoying sheds, I'm happy," says Andrew.

"Now it's down to the judges in the last episode to pick an overall winner from all the category winners for their build to be crowned Shed of the Year."

The final of Amazing Spaces: Shed of the Year is on Thursday, August 7 at 8pm, Channel 4